St. Lucie West Services District
2005 Drinking Water q ·uality Report

We're pleased to present to you this year's Annual Quality Water Report. This reportis designed to inform you about the quality water and services we deliver to you every day. Our constant goal is to provide you with a safe and dependable supply of drinking water.We want you to understand the efforts we make to continually improve the water
treatment process and protect our water resources. We are committed to ensuring the quality of your water.

This report shows our water quality results and what they mean.

Our water source is three wells that draw water from the Floridan aquifer. The water is then treated by reverse osmosis, chlorinated for disinfeaion, fluoride is added
to help prevent tooth decay, and phosphate inhibitor is added for corrosion control.
In addition to this Water Quality Report, Florida's Department of Environmental Proteaion (DEP) is in the process of conduaing Source Water Assessment (SWA) for all public water systems in Florida. These assess­ ments will identify and assess any potential sources of contamination in the vicinity of your water supply. A SWA conduaed for this system in 2004 found that some of our system's wells are at low risk for contamination from domestic wastewater sources and moderate risk from petroleum storage tanks. A SWA report for this system is available at the DEP SWAPP web site: www. dep.state.fl.us/swapp.

If you have any questions about this Water Quality report or concerning your water utility, or want to obtain a copy of this report, please contaa Mr. William Hayden at (772) 340-0220 or Mr. Charles Sweat at (407) 629-6900. You also may pick up a copy of this report at 450 SW Utility Drive, Port St. Lucie, Florida 34986. This report will be mailed to our customers. We want our valued customers to be informed about their water utility. If you want to learn more, please attend any of our regt.tlarly scheduled meetings. Please call the Distria office at (772) 340-0220 for the location and date of the next meeting.

U1  ·s·.a  , J  iing   t i e Report
St. Lucie West Services Distria routinely monitors for contaminants in your drinking water according to fed­ eral and state laws, rules and regulations. Except where indicated otherwise, this report is based on the results of our monitoring for the period ofJanuary 1- December 31, 2005. Also included are test results in earlier years
for contaminants sampled less often than annually. For contaminants not required to be analyzed in 2005, test results are for the most recent testing done in accor­ dance with regulations authorized by the state and ap­ proved by the United States Environmental Proteaion Agency (EPA).
As water travels over the land or underground it can pick up substances or contaminants such as microbes, inorganic and organic chemicals, and radioaaive sub­ stances. All drinking water- including bottled drinking water- may be reasonably expeaed to contain at least small amounts of some contaminants. It's important to remember that the presence of these contaminants does not necessarily pose a health risk. You may get more information about contaminants and potential health

effeas by calling the Environmental Proteaion Agency's Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791.

Contaminants that maybe present in source water include:

The sources of drinking water (both tap water and bottled water) include rivers, lakes, streams, ponds, reservoirs, springs, and wells. As water travels over the surface of the land or through the ground, it dissolves naturally-occurring minerals and, in some cases, radioac­ tive material, and can pick up substances resulting from the presence of animals or from human aaivity.

Microbial contaminants,such as viruses and baaeria, which may come from sewage treatment plants, septic systems, agricultural livestock operations, and wildlife.
Inorganic contaminants, such as salts and metals, which can be naturally-occurring or result from urban storm water runoff, industrial or domestic wastewater discharges, oil and gas produa ion, mining, or farming.
Pesticides and herbicides, which may come from a variety of sources such as agriculture, urban storm water runoff, and residential uses.
Organic chemical contaminants,including synthetic and volatile organic chemicals, which are by-produa s of industrial processes and petroleum produa ion, can also come from gas stations, urban storm water runoff, and septic systems.
Radioactivecontaminants, which can be naturally-oc­ curring or the result of oil and gas produaion or mining aa ivities.

In order to ensure that tap water is safe to drink, EPA prescribes regulations which limit the amount of certain contaminants in water provided by public water sys­ tems. FDA regulations establish limits for contaminants in bottled water which must provide the same protec­ tion for public health.
In the data table you will find many terms you might not be familiar with. To help you better understand these terms, we've provided a key to abbreviations and definitions in the table to the right.

Some people may be more vulnerable to contaminants in drinking water than the general population. Im­ muno-compromised persons such as those with cancer undergoing chemotherapy, organ transplant recipients, people with HNI AIDS or other immune system disor­ ders, some elderly, and infants can be particularly at risk from infections. These people should seek advice about drinking water from their health care providers. EPA/ CDC guidelines on appropriate means to lessen the risk of infeaion by cryptosporidium and other microbiologi-

Definitions of Terms Used in This Report

St. Lucie West Services District would like for you to understand the efforts we make to continually improve the water treatment process and protect our water resources.
We are committed to ensuring the quality of your water.If
you have any questions or concerns about the inforrnation provided, please feel free to call any of the numbers listed.
SLWS Distria Office: (772) 340-0220
SLWS Distria Manager: (407) 629-6900

Understanding the Results Table
A table of water test results is provided on the next page. Results in the Level Deteaed column for radiological contaminants, inorganic contaminants, synthetic organic contaminants including pesticides and herbicides, and volatile organic contaminants are the highest average
at any of the sampling points or the highest deteaed level at any sampling point, depending on the sampling frequency.
As you can see by the table, lead samples exceeded the recommended levels. The exceedance was due to start up of the new RO Water Plant where water chemistry was out ofbalance with corrosive water. The water chemistry is now in balance and is not corrosive. Corrosion control inhibitor was added to protea and coat residential
pipes to reduce lead leaching. We have completed public notification and education concerning lead. We have resampled for lead and copper and have passed the 90th percentile requirements. We're proud that your drinking water meets or exceeds all federal and state requirements.
Infants and young children are typically more vulnerable

Term appear ing in Results Table
Action Level (AL)

Not Applicable (N/A) Not-Detected (ND) Parts per million (ppm)

Parts per billion (p p b)

Picocuries per liter (pCi/ L)
Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL)

Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG)
Maximum residual disinfectant level (MRDL)

Maximum residual disinfectant level goal (MRDLG)

Definition
The concentraton of a contaminant which, if exceeded, triggers treatment or other requi rements which a water system must follow.
Does not apply.
Laboratmy analys s indicates that the constituen t was not p resent
or Milligrams per liter (mg/I) one part by weight of analy t e to one million parts by weight of the water ample.
or Micrograms per liter (µgll) one part by weight of ana lyte to one billion pa•ts by weight of the water sample
p1cocuries per liter 1s a measure of the radioactivity in water.
The "Maximum Allowed" is the highest level of a contaminant that is allowed in drinking water. MCLs are set as close to the MCLGs as feasible using the best avail able treatme'lt technology
The "Goal" is the leve of a contaminant in drinking water below which there is no known or expec ted risk to hea th. MCLGs allow for a margin of safety.
The highest level of a disinfectant allowed in drinking water. There is convinc ng evidence that add1t1on of disinfectant 1s necessary for control of microbial  contam inants.
The level of a drinking water  disinfectant  below  which there is no known or expected risk to health. MRDLGs do not reflect the benefits of the use of disinfectants to control m1crob 1al contaminants.

to lead in drinking water than the general population. It is possible that lead levels at your home may be higher than at other homes in the community as a result of materials used in your home's plumbing. If you are con­ cerned about elevated lead levels in your home's water, you may wish to have your water tested and flush your tap 30 seconds to 2 minutes before using tap water. Ad­ ditional information is available from the Safe Drinking Water Hotline (1-800-426-4791).

cal contaminants are available from the Safe Drinking Water Hotline (800-426-4791).
MCLs are set at very stringent levels. To understand the possible health effeas described for many regulated constituents, a person would have to drink 2 liters of
water every day at the MCL level for a lifetime to have a one-in-a-million chance of having the described health effea.

Note to certain customers
During 2005, a portion of our service area received water from the City of Port St. Lucie Utilities. A copy of the Wa­ ter Quality Report for the City will be provided to those customers under separate cover.

Water quality testing results are shown in the table on the next page.